rurrenabaque, bolivia - pt. 3

At first the plan had been to go to La Paz together and from there I would have gone to Samaipata to work. But the roads were more than bad and I really did not want to go on that road again. So I asked for flight and found one that wasn’t too expensive and would actually take me closer to Samaipata than taking a bus to La Paz. But for that flight I’d have had to wait a couple of days (and at that point I really did not want to spend any more time in Rurre), and so I also had to call the people in Samaipata to tell them I’d be late. They were fine with it, and so I went back to the airline office to buy my ticket to get out of this place. But the office was just closing and they wouldn’t let me in. But they assured me that I could buy the ticket in the morning of the next day.

That calmed me down a little, but I knew I could only relax when I really had the ticket.

Ivan and Sofia were even more in a rush to get out of Rurre and, crazy as they were, they decided to go by bus. I couldn’t believe buses would seriously leave the town, but they said they would the next day.

Still, it was raining and none of us was in their best mood. The only positive thing was that Sofia asked the owner of her house if I could stay there for a couple of days after she left, and he agreed.

Early next morning Ivan and I went to Philip’s house once again to take a shower. Then we split, because he had to get his stuff ready to leave and I had to go buy that plane ticket. Soon it started raining, and as soon as I got to the office I was soaked. To make it worse, they told me that there were no flights that day. Well, there were flights but no tickets because planes were going to be used for something that had to do with the flooding (at that point not only Rurre, but also several towns around the area, had been announced as national disaster zone) and for some reason they had not known that the night before. I was crushed and just couldn’t believe it. And I was pissed at myself because I didn’t buy the ticket right away, and at the airline because they wouldn’t sell it to me now.

Soaked as I was, I first went to get breakfast because I figured I might be in a better mood with some food in my stomach and might be able to find a solution for the problem of getting out of this fucking town.

I decided then to go to the other airline company, even though I knew it would be much more expensive. But at that point I just didn’t care.

Since their office had gotten badly flooded too, the only way to get information was to go to the airport. But there is this one house in Rurre, that has a huge sign of the company on the wall, and so, hoping that they might have some information too, I went there to ask. So I talked to the guy there, explained him my situation and he immediately suggested me several things that I could do and even offered me to take me to the airport. I did all that in my best Spanish, until I found out that he spoke perfect English which made it a little embarrassing. But it also felt really good to be able to speak some English after all the Spanish of the last weeks and Diego also gave me some hope to find another possibility to leave.

After that I went to the Navy Base (yes, Bolivia does have a Navy.) and talked to a very nice officer if they could fly me out with one of the cargo planes that were coming in from Trinidad to bring food and other things. He also was very helpful and told me that I should come back when the weather was better (rain was still pouring down) and then I could go. I was excited about that possibility and decided to find a dry place to finish my book and wait for better weather.

There, I was already in a better mood and the day just kept getting better when I asked somewhere if I could just sit down under the roof and read my book, and was offered tea, dry clothes and coming inside. I had gotten a little cold, still being in my wet clothes, and after that I felt much better. The only thing I still didn’t have was a ticket out of Rurre.

I spent the afternoon reading, talking to Diego and at the Navy Base, where they still couldn’t tell me anything new or secure me a seat in the plane (even though they SAID I could go for sure, doesn’t mean it would actually be that way). Later I went to Luna Lounge, a bar that is owned by the same person who also owns the house where I was staying. Since he was letting me stay for free, I offered to help out at the bar, but that night I was just a regular customer. Except that he came over to my table at some point and randomly asked me if I wanted to eat something and then came back with a delicious veggie omelet. And later, when I decided I’d had enough beer for the night, he even took me home.

On the next day my goal was to have a ticket and a date to leave, so I could finally relax and enjoy the last days here, however many that would be. The situation in Rurre was still sad – there was still no water, people were living in tents on the streets or in schools, and there were rumors going around that the river would rise again. But still, everybody was friendly and people took their losses with incredible strength and they also had started cleaning the streets from all the mud.

First thing in the morning I went to the Navy again, but they still couldn’t tell me anything new. They just said I’d have to wait until the plane gets in but no one knew when that would be. And I didn’t really want to spend my day waiting there, especially because I still didn’t believe that they would really have a seat for me (there were tons of people waiting to get out..). I then figured that my best shot would still be to go to the airport and get a ticket from the other airline. Fortunately I ran into Diego again and he took me there without hesitating. The other airline was more expensive, but they had a ticket a week later that was affordable and I was going to buy it online as soon as I had talked to the people in Samaipata. But that online-buying-thing didn’t work out so I had to go to the airport again. I took a moto and asked the driver to wait for me outside while I would buy the ticket. That day wasn’t as good as the day before and when I got to the airport the light went out so I had to wait. My taxi left, and when I finally, finally had this stupid ticket there were no other taxis there either. I had just started walking when a car came by (a rare sight here) and they took me back without charging me.

I was happy and relieved and went to Luna to put my stuff there and then go and grab something to eat.

From here on I get a little confused with the days, but basically what happened was this: I started to help out at Luna at night and one day I accidentally stopped by while the family there was just about to have lunch. They invited me to eat with them and from there on I have lunch with them pretty much every day. In the beginning I felt uncomfortable, because I just couldn’t understand why exactly they would not only let me stay in their house for free, but also feed me with lots of food every day (sometimes they even made an extra plate for me without meat after Jacky (the wife) had figured out that I’m not the biggest meat eater), but they treated me like a family member and I was happy to have a place where I could hang out.

Working at the bar was a challenge in the beginning, not just because it was my first time doing anything like that but also because I had to do it all in Spanish. But the bartender (Romer) was very patient with me, and after a few days I had gotten used to this new daily routine of having lunch with the family and working in the evening. Just the staying up late every night took me a little longer to get used to.

A lot of the days I also spend some time with Diego and while taking me out to nice (and more local) places in town he explained me a lot about Rurre and Bolivian culture in general, which I really enjoyed. He knew almost every person in Rurre and so he also found me the opportunity to volunteer at a clinic project, founded years ago by an American doctor.

By then I’d already been thinking about staying a little longer, because I had just gotten comfortable here and I felt so welcome in the Luna-family. But I felt like I couldn’t let the people in Samaipata down, so I was still planning on leaving.

Until I changed my mind and just stayed.

The regular customers at Luna, the family and Diego were all happy about my decision, and, the most important thing, I felt really good about it too. By then I had something to do in the mornings (the clinic), not only ate lunch at Luna but also helped cooking and enjoyed having my own place to stay.

Days passed by, now all kind of in a blur, but I was happy (still am) and after all that had happened I finally started to like Rurreanabaque.